Tuesday December 7 Advent 2
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Psalm 26
“I do not sit down with the wicked”: this gives us words to say how we wish to live, that deep in our heart we really are such people as keep God’s commands to love and do justice. “My foot stands on level ground” because we ground our lives on the solid base of justice.
Psalm 28
Like many psalms, this asks that the wicked be punished: “give them their just deserts.” (“Deserts” is “What is deserved,” not miles of sand or misspelled sweets!) This desire for evil people to be destroyed seems very unlike Jesus’ request that we forgive our enemies and love them, but it is really giving us words to express our own intense desire that oppressive and violent policies should come to an end. We might pray, “May any international trade agreements that make the poor even poorer, be utterly done away with.” The violent images in many psalms are not to ask God to be violent, but to ask that all evil actions and policies be completely defeated so people around the world can live in peace and fulfilment. The second half of the psalm gives thanks that God has indeed been victorious over oppression.
Amos 7.10-17 What’s Amos about?
The king tells Amos to leave and take his uncomfortable prophecies somewhere else. Amos responds that these prophecies are not his personal opinion, but that it is God who is speaking through him and that there will be dire consequences to the king and the people for continuing to oppress the poor.
Matthew 22.34-46 What’s Matthew about?
Jesus is challenged to declare which commandment, of the 619 in the Old Testament, is the most important—this was a question of real concern at the time. While Jesus’ response seems obvious to us that there are two chief commandments—to love God and our neighbour—he cut through the religious argumentation and clearly placed God’s rule and care for God’s people as the foundation of all true religion.
Jesus then responds to the constant opposition to his claim to represent God by referring to a verse in Psalm 110 which he interprets as proving that the messiah cannot be descended from King David. Descent from King David was widely believed then as now to be necessary for the messiah, so it’s not clear why Jesus would attempt to disprove it. Jesus may be saying that his authority to represent the justice of God stands on its own and doesn’t need to be proved from scripture.
This week’s collect:
Almighty God,
who sent your servant John the Baptist
to prepare your people to welcome the Messiah,
inspire us, the ministers and stewards of your truth,
to turn our disobedient hearts to you,
that when the Christ shall come again to be our judge,
we may stand with confidence before his glory;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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